Focus Shifts To Anambra East, West As 2019 Approaches

As a number of political analysts have rightly noted, Nigeria has revolved in a circle for about 35 years with almost no visible improvement in the standard of living of the average Nigerian or a time-tested structure for that desired development. Everyone has grown weary of blaming the military for its years of unwelcomed incursion into the political landscape and attention has turned to the successive democratic administrations since 1999.

In the art of governance, there has to be a consistent movement of information between representatives and their constituencies to know how they can deliver the best to the people, as long as they have the political will to do so. Opening a dormant constituency office is not what we are talking about here. There has to be more to it than throwing money to people on the streets and in the market places . There has to be a governing vision of the community for progress which the representative stands for. Having a visionary legislature that actively pursues its oversight functions and works hand-in-hand with the executive is the only way Nigeria can begin to make giant strides towards sustainable development. Under the leadership of APGA, Anambra State has grown in leap and bounds and it his only proper for us to sustain this kind of work, so that our land and Ndi Anambra can get to the Promised Land in good time. Anambra has become a leading state in agricultural and technical production today, even though it is not as large as other states, because a proper foundation has been laid. It is now time to follow this up with proper legislative representation at the federal level.

A point of disconnect is recognising that there remains untapped human and capital resources in the state, especially in Anambra East/West. It takes a person who wears the same shoes with the people to know where their feet hurt. This is the reason my heart leaped for joy at the declaration of Chinedu Obidigwe, who aims to represent Anambra East / West Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, come 2019. This is a man who, as most other people, has borne the brunt of our harsh economic system, but turned it in his favour to thrive in business and personal life. However, unlike most who would rather capitulate their private lives and consolidate on their private gains for self and family, Obidigwe sees more than that. He believes in building the capacity of youths, such that each individual can sustain himself/herself and, together, they can sustain society. That is why he has spent the last couple of years in active public service in Anambra State, from working as the local government chairman in Anambra East, to working with the current governor in various capacities – one of them being as the governor’s special adviser on political matters.

Even in a complex society with contentious contradictions like ours where it has been difficult to distinguish who serves who, between legislators and constituent, an experienced and reflective personality like Obidigwe’s would be the best for the National Assembly seat, seeing as his natural tendencies blend straight into the attributes of a progressive public servant. Industrious, visionary and goal-oriented, to say the least, Obidigwe is one man to watch out for in the coming days and, as far as the race to 2019 is concerned, what the future holds for him and his constituents is something more than a few would like to see.